Can-Eng Furnaces International Ltd. has been awarded a contract to design and manufacture two 50,000-pound/hour car-bottom furnaces for one of the world’s largest metals and mining companies. These custom-engineered furnaces will support the manufacture of critical metal hot-rolling machine components used in the production rolling of high value-added automotive steel sheet and plate. The two systems, although located side by side, will utilize completely independent control systems to allow flexibility for schedule and maintenance. Both furnaces will be interconnected to the larger plant-wide system for data acquisition and trending capabilities. 

U.K.-based Wallwork Group invested approximately $900,000 to purchase two Rübig plasma nitriding furnaces for the heat treatment of new and replacement components in the aerospace and automotive industries. The first furnace is scheduled to be installed in Wallwork’s Cambridge plasma nitriding center in August. The company is also adding a dedicated area for inspection of case depth, structure and other quality aspects of the nitriding process at the facility, which will have six operational plasma nitriders.

Armil CFS Inc. shipped two natural-gas-fired box furnaces with integrated afterburners to a West Coast manufacturer of aerospace components. The furnaces, which have an operating temperature range of 450-1800°F with +/-25°F uniformity in the work zone, will be used to burn out and preheat investment casting molds. The Tru-Heat furnaces have an inside chamber size of 8 feet wide x 7 feet deep  with a working height of 4 feet. For energy savings, they are programmed with weekend mode and automated afterburner idle.

Lucifer Furnaces delivered a high-temperature hardening box furnace to a metal stamping manufacturer based in the southeast United States. The end user is upgrading older heat-treating equipment and will employ the furnace for everyday use. Designed with thick walls of insulation for uniform heating and low outside shell temperature, the bench model has a 9-inch x 12-inch x 24-inch chamber and heats to 2300°F (1260°C). The furnace temperature is controlled with a Honeywell digital time-proportioning controller.

The Doncasters Group ordered a 300-pound vacuum precision investment casting (VPIC) furnace from Consarc. The 300-pound-capacity furnace will be installed at Doncasters’ Southern Tool facility in Oxford, Ala. The order includes start-up and installation, with delivery scheduled before the end of 2021. The VPIC furnace is equipped with high-vacuum capabilities, state-of-the-art controls and increased automation with Teach Pour.  U.K.-based Doncasters Group manufactures high-precision engineering components designed to operate in demanding conditions.

TMK will upgrade pipe heat-treatment equipment at its Pervouralsk Pipe Plant (PNTZ) in Russia to reduce resource consumption and expand its size range of high-tech products. A roller-hearth furnace in a tube drawing shop has already been upgraded. The new technology allowed TMK to decrease the lower temperature limit in the furnace by 200C. The plant can now produce new products – ball bearings, precision and other pipes for the aerospace and automotive industries – with the mechanical properties required by Russian and European quality standards. As part of the upgrade, the furnace was equipped with a new digital process control system that runs a comprehensive equipment diagnostic and automatically adjusts the temperature parameters. PNTZ plans to upgrade two more furnaces in its tube drawing shops in 2021.

Can-Eng Furnaces International Ltd. has been awarded two contracts from a producer of high-volume specialty automotive fasteners. Can-Eng will supply two mesh-belt heat-treatment systems, which will include: computerized vibratory loading system, rotary phosphate removal washer, mesh-belt hardening furnace, oil-quench system, post-quench wash system, mesh-belt temper furnace and part containerization system. The fully integrated systems feature Can-Eng’s PET (process enhancement technology) system, which provides the client with complete product traceability through the thermal process, process data collection, historical event archiving, process variable trend monitoring and scheduling optimization.

L&L Special Furnace Co. shipped a floor-standing box furnace to an aerospace company in eastern Canada. The furnace will be used for curing and bonding ceramic coatings to various steel bodies primarily deployed in the aerospace industry. This process provides extra strength to aerospace parts that are subject to various temperatures and stresses under normal operating conditions. The furnace has an effective work zone of 22 inches wide x 16 inches high x 20 inches deep. A horizontal door with ceramic hearth and support bricks is included to incorporate the customer’s loading system. Nickel-chrome elements that are resistant to any potential contamination the process may cause are used. Heat shields provide a safe-to-touch case temperature under operating conditions.

Lindberg/MPH shipped an electrically heated spray washer to the defense industry. The spray washer is designed as a companion to a heat-treating process. It washed the parts prior to and/or after heat treatment. The chamber within is designed to accept a standard load with dimensions of 30 inches wide x 48 inches deep x 30 inches high, including a clearance for loading the baskets or fixtures. The maximum operating temperature is 185°F, and the normal operating temperature is 160°F.

Whether you are specifying permanent furnace components like a cast belt, roller tracks and fans or heat-treatment accessories like baskets, fixtures and trays, picking the right alloy and the optimal design is the best way to deliver maximum performance and lifetime at minimum cost.